


The Demise of Lapis Lazuli

by Enlightened_Introvert



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Kinda Intense at times, Meta/Theories, Raid on Beta Theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11715672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enlightened_Introvert/pseuds/Enlightened_Introvert
Summary: This is the tale of how Lapis came to find herself trapped in the mirror.





	The Demise of Lapis Lazuli

Consciousness flared, only to be forced back, constricted, confined.

What happened? Where was she? Why was she here? The questions formed as quickly as her panicked mind could manifest them, yet she found herself incapable of voicing her concerns. Indeed, all that seemed to exist for that moment was her conscious mind, no body, no voice, unable to see or hear or feel anything outside the darkness she found herself in. All that she was aware of was the presence of several other gems surrounding her prison.

Then, through the void, there came a vaguely familiar, cultured voice speaking to her in an unfamiliar, demanding tone, as if she were a common criminal.

“Where is your leader, rebel?” The gem inquired firmly. “Where is Rose Quartz?”

 _Oh no_ , Lapis thought, panic dominating her mind.  _I’m not one of them! I’m not one of them! I’M NOT ONE OF THEM!_

But, of course, none of them could hear her. There was a short silence as they waited, an impatient shuffling of feet, and then the gem spoke again.

“Where are your filthy cohorts hiding?” The gem shook her violently. Her prison was small and handheld, it turned out, and the gem was quite angry. “Are you proud of what you’ve done? Shattering newly emerged gems?”

 _I’m didn’t do this._ She was so disoriented and discouraged and so, so confused, trying to reach out and speak to the gems around her and explain the situation. She wasn’t one of them, and she had no idea what she was talking about. Would they even believe her at this point, now that they’ve come to such extreme conclusions? And how was she supposed to answer them, trapped without a means of communication?

During the brief silence that followed the next bout of silence—it felt as if the interrogator had put her down for a moment to calm down—a small light began to glow within the void, growing in intensity. The noises of the surrounding area grew in clarity, as well: shouted orders, agonized groans, and a sound that she could only recognize as a damaged injector, clattering aimlessly against stone, as well as the unmistakable voices of Peridots cursing at the inconvenience. Finally, the scene before her unfolded, revealing the faces of several Homeworld soldiers—evident by the Pink or Blue insignias on their chests—and a Peridot, who appeared to be holding the prison out for the group to see.

“Looks like the blue birdy is giving us the silent treatment,” an Amethyst soldier chuckled darkly, a pained look behind her pale, lavender eyes. Lapis’ mind, still recovering from shock, could not recall recent events, but she had the overwhelming feeling that something terrible had occurred.

“Where did you find her again?” The Peridot asked, clearing her throat to hide the furious tremble in her voice.

“In the middle of the field, just sticking out of the mud,” the Amethyst affirmed, reaching over the prison and tapping something out of her field of vision. An uncomfortable sensation filled her mind, making her fairly certain that was her gem. “All of the Lapis evacuated, yeah?”

The Peridot glared hard at the object clutched in her long fingers. “Yes, I saw them. Three were shattered, but the rest escaped. I’m sure of it. This,” she shook the prison once more, “this is a valuable prisoner indeed. They’ll pay!”

A Blue Quartz grasped the Peridot’s narrow shoulders and stated sternly, “shaking her around isn’t going to make her answer any quicker! Besides, it’s not much to get worked up about.” She waved her hand flippantly, as if no great atrocity had happened. “It’s just a bunch of defects, anyway.”

The group nodded, some outright agreeing and some nodding hesitantly, and the peridot lowered the prison reluctantly. “I suppose a mirror is the best choice of a prison for a Lapis.”

A mirror. She was trapped in a mirror.

Her life of privilege was over, that much was certain, and she feared what there was in store. And then, as the group began to move, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the carnage that the Crystal Gems had left in their wake. The first things she noticed were the fallen injectors and crumbling walls—ones they spent so long trying to shape!—until her gaze shifted to the glittering sand beneath. Lapis had never seen so many gem shards in one place.

Milling about were the red banded jaspers that had been incubated within the dusty canyon walls of this miserable place, so young and already sifting through the sand to collect shards. So young, and yet they looked so completely defeated. It was a massacre, and she didn’t even have the liberty to mourn the loss, both towards the lives she helped maintain and the failure that Homeworld faced.

It all came back to her in vivid detail, the moments that lead to the end of her freedom…

Lapis Lazuli stood poised on the edge of the Beta Kindergarten, work-worn and filthy, appearing more red than blue. Her cohorts weren’t any better off, all waiting impatiently for the scouts to return with more water.

Their occupation on Earth carried on far longer than intended, as Blue Diamond was set on chasing after the slippery rebels that somehow managed to evade capture. They were like a puzzle that became more difficult the longer you stared at it, as if they were always one step ahead of Homeworld. Perhaps they were, with that defected Sapphire on their side. And with the added knowledge of different-gem fusion, they were incredibly unpredictable. Blue Diamond grew more frustrated by the day, and her court was working faster than they had ever worked before.

They began production at the Beta Kindergarten when the Prime Kindergarten’s numbers began to plummet. Shattered in battle or compelled to join the traitors, the Amethysts were stretched thin across the Homeworld-occupied facets, and there were very few soldiers from other colonies that could be spared. As the last of Prime’s gems emerged at Facet Five, Beta was just beginning to be cut out in Facet Nine.

Despite the poor material they had and the adverse conditions they were forced to work in, everything was going smoothly until the unthinkable happened: Prime was shut down, fallen into enemy hands. That was over fifty years ago, and they had been speeding to finish the job and get more troops out on the field.

However, there was the catch. In their haste, they had doomed these young soldiers from the beginning. The hydrokinetic gems of Blue Diamond’s court, tasked to flood Beta repeatedly to erode the brittle surface into a smooth face, left the cliffs curved and uneven. The Peridots sent the injectors in every conceivable direction, placing the gems in the worst possible locations. No one could even pinpoint where some would emerge, so focused were they on getting the job done quickly. And while the undesirable location made it less suspicious to the enemy, the gems would require a much longer incubation period in order to even have a chance a coming out properly. With sightings of the enemy creeping ever closer to their secret kindergarten, time was both precious and fleeting.

Many were of the opinion that Pink and Blue Diamond were wasting their time and resources on this place, but they had neither the liberty nor the energy to complain.

“Stars above, what’s taking so long?” The lower ranking Lapis beside her commented, shielding her face against the glare of the Earth’s sun.

“Perhaps we can do one more flood before they return,” an Aquamarine suggested, flitting about anxiously. The more they worked, the quicker this job would be completed.

Turquoise, their assigned manager for the task for the past 250 years, gazed doubtfully at the red sludge below them. “It’s more likely to stick to everything and everyone than it is to actually make progress. We’ve already lost plenty of injectors to the sand storms; it’s best not to push our luck. This mud is spent.”

“The ocean isn’t  _that_  far from here,” Lapis pointed out reluctantly, leaning back into the shadow of a nearby boulder and gazed into the horizon, as well. “They’ve been gone all day. We’ve traveled this distance many times, easily, in half the time it’s taking them.”

“It wasn’t a good idea to send the younger Lapises,” the Aquamarine agreed. “Maybe they lost their way.”

“Or their morals,” an Angelite added grimly. “Suppose they sold us out to those thugs.”

“Now, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Turquoise warned, diffusing the situation.

“Can you blame me for being paranoid?” The Angelite insisted. “It’s as if this planet infects gems with…free-thinking and whatnot.”

“No, Rose Quartz is the infectious one, not the dirt,” the other Lapis replied, swiping at the dust on her own clothes uncomfortably.

Lapis grew tired of talking of rebels and work and dirt. There was too much of each of these things to warrant wasting her energy speculating about them, so she settled on scanning the horizon and worrying that all their hard work would be for naught. Suddenly, four small blue dots appeared on the horizon.

“There they are!” Lapis cried, pointing.

Something wasn’t right. They were dodging wildly around the sky, pursued by an unseen assailant before they finally shuddered, one by one, and fell from the air.

The cry rose up from the far side of Beta, “Crystal Gems!” and panic ensued as the few soldiers enlisted to safe guard the kindergarten scrambled to block off the main entrance. In a gap between two cliffs, Lapis could see the small army of rebels marching towards them, chanting angrily. With only one Amethyst battalion, plus a supplementary group of soldiers from Homeworld, they were sorely outnumbered.

And in the midst of the chaos was the pink-haired devil herself, wielding both sword and shield. She moved along ahead of her troops as if she hadn’t a fear in the cosmos, accompanied by her band of close accomplices. This wasn’t just any attack, it was a calculated assault.

The blue aristocrats stared in fright at the amassed Crystal Gems, stricken vulnerable by the dry landscape they found themselves in. Turquoise was the first to break from the shock, manifesting her own wings and soaring far above the scene and getting a better view of the situation. Lapis followed suit, attempting to pick at the sludge below with her powers as a means of defense, but it was already quite dry. All the water that was left was either deep underground or holding them aloft.

“Their numbers are impressive,” Turquoise shouted over the noise beneath, “but not enough to span two fronts! Blocking the main entrance will delay them long enough to evacuate!”

“Evacuate?”

“Like cowards?!”

“What are we going to do?!”

“Where are we going to go?!”

“What a waste!”

“Orders!” Turquoise shouted back at the outraged gems. “We have been ordered to not get involved in the fighting! It was a stretch for us to stay here as long as we have. We need to escape while we can!”

None of them were in a position to object, with their gems on the line, so they did as they were told, mustering the last of their resources to fly up and follow behind their manager. Lapis took up the rear as the most powerful of the group—besides Turquoise—waiting for the mayhem to break loose. The entrance had been barricaded in record time, the walls detonated and rubble packed into the space. Lapis, in her tense anticipation, was caught off guard by the actions of the Peridots below, hastily reactivating the injectors and maneuvering them into position.

Against her better judgement, Lapis hovered curiously, unsure as to why these technicians chose this moment to inject new gems. What was the point, if the Crystal Gems were going to shut this place down, just as they did with Prime? She flew in lower, her cohorts leaving her behind.

“What are you doing?! Stop!” Lapis cried over the noise.

The Peridot didn’t seem to hear her, but her intent was clear soon enough. Lapis watched, transfixed, as the injector spun rapidly, beginning to glow at the command of the Peridot operating it. A corresponding red glow shone from the cliff, and the injector scuttled expertly to meet it, embedding the drill-head into the stone.

“Stand clear!” The Peridot cried to no one in particular as the glow grew in intensity. Lapis flew out of the way just in time, as the injector moved aside and the rock exploded away and a new soldier—a Jasper—fell out of the hole upside-down. Lapis didn’t know how to respond until she caught a better view of the gem before her and shrieked.

She was missing both of her arms.

The Peridot swore loudly, as the Jasper gazed at Lapis—confused by her response—and attempting to haul herself up off the ground. All around her, Lapis could see injectors pulling gem after helpless gem from their holes, about fifty years too early. Every single one of them were defective by varying degrees, some missing whole limbs, some deformed, and some didn’t even make it out of their hole before falling to pieces. Lapis couldn’t concentrate on flying anymore, and she dropped from the air as her water wings were absorbed into the thirsty earth.

“What have you done?” Lapis asked, looking about in horror.

“We’re outnumbered!” The Peridot cried back, remorse distorting her features. “This is our only chance!” Then, addressing the soldier, who had managed to push herself upright. “Fight as best you can! When the barricade falls, shatter anyone who doesn’t have this”—she pointed at the yellow diamond on her chest, then the pink diamond on the Jasper’s—“anyone who doesn’t bear the diamond insignia. Kill them, for Pink Diamond, the Diamond Authority, and for Homeworld!”

The Jasper, though having just emerged, nodded in understanding, armless and all, and paced readily before her crooked hole.

As the entrance was situated at the end of a steep valley, it was almost guaranteed to keep the enemy at bay until sundown, at least Lapis hoped. As long as—

“Agh!” Lapis cried, as a lithe figure hurtled from the sky right into her back, throwing her hard into the dirt. Thin hands wrapped around the back of her neck and pressed into her gem simultaneously as cold, watery chains clasped her wrists.

“Don’t move, or I’ll shatter you,” a silky, familiar voice whispered beside her head. It was a Lapis who had flown over the barricade and tackled her. In her peripheral vision, Lapis could just catch sight of the teardrop-shaped gem on her right thigh, tantalizingly close and yet out of reach.

“let go, traitor!” Lapis spat, attempting to kick the gem.

Thankfully, the defective Jasper had her wits about her as she kicked the gem for her, sending her flying into the adjacent well. With a hasty “thank you!”, Lapis dashed through the hoard of gems fighting off the first wave of Crystal Gems.

It was then that she began to take stock of the situation she had gotten herself into in her foolishness. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. There was no easily accessible water at her disposal, and her hand-to-hand combat skills were lacking, leaving herself completely at the mercy of her adversaries. She had no way of escaping and she had no idea where to go, even if she could. They were pulling gems from the kindergarten far too prematurely on the off chance that it might be enough to stop these monsters, who were bent on destroying everything they worked for.

Lapis Lazuli hardly noticed what was going on around her, too busy seeking out a means of survival. In all her several thousand years of existence, she had never felt more helpless and afraid (little did she know, there was much worse to come), and she couldn’t bring herself to use logical thinking. Flight was ingrained into her very nature, right down to her fear response. Nothing around her mattered, that is, until the sun began to dip low to the west.

As Lapis had suspected, the Crystal Gems had finally broken through the barrier, spilling into Beta at full force. She swerved into the unoccupied sections of the kindergarten, hiding, pulling herself together, thinking of a plan. She had none. She ran aimlessly for what felt like forever, as darkness engulfed the land and the sound of battle grew in intensity.

Getting the feeling that she was lost, she finally came upon a light, flickering madly as the noise was nearly deafening. Without thinking, Lapis had sprinted right into the heart of the battle.

Fire, explosions, and soldiers. Her ears rang, her mind raced, and her limbs felt weak. How could she have gotten herself into this? How?!

Soldiers, both the defects from Beta and the older Homeworld soldiers, stormed past her to fend off the advancing enemies, only to fall victim to the Crystal Gems’ assault, exploding into the shards all around her. She covered her ears helplessly to block out the horrible sound of crunching stone.

In a thin moment of clarity, she sensed the tiny bit of water she needed, a means of escape just within her reach, and fleeting relief filled her entire being. She leapt into the air, wings unfurling, and she felt a breath-taking blow to her lower back, just below her gem…

The raid lasted all night and into the next morning until every emerged Beta soldier had been turned gravel.

The damage was extensive, but the battle had been won for the time being, for it was the Crystal Gems who had retreated in the end. Everyone knew, however, that this wasn’t the last they would see of them, now that they knew of Pink Diamond’s new gem production center. They wouldn’t stop until the place was utterly decimated, and the gems who occupied the territory could only hope that their respective Diamonds would get the news and send extra troops quickly. If they could salvage what gems were left incubating in their holes, they may still have a chance to turn this war around.

This was only a fool’s hope, but they knew that they couldn’t waiver in their resolve and their faith in the Diamonds in the least, now more than ever. The fear of being shattered by rebels and being accused of and shattered for treason were, in equal parts, they things that urged them to work harder.

As for Lapis Lazuli? Her gem had made it through the skirmish unscathed, picked up by some Amethyst a couple days later as the soldiers continued to look for fallen gems. If she had just escaped with the rest…it was too late. The gems who had scrutinized her gemstone were not of Blue Diamond’s inner court, and there was no way they would have recognized. With the realization that there were Lapis Lazulis among the Crystal Gems, there was no way they could have determined whether she was friend or foe, and there was hardly a way for her to express it.

She was trapped within the mirror for nearly Five thousand, five hundred years, most of it spent cracked and alone, after being left behind in the subsequent evacuation of Earth. She lay there facing the galaxy that housed Homeworld, so, so deceivingly close.

She was stranded at the Galaxy Warp for all of this time…until she was found.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little different from what I normally write, but I felt bad about focusing solely on the Quartzes, and I also have a lot of feelings about Lapis' flashback in Same Old World. Thanks for reading!


End file.
